Cultural stereotypes as gatekeepers: increasing girls’ interest in computer science and engineering by diversifying stereotypes
Open accessAbstract
Despite having made significant inroads into many traditionally male-dominated fields (e.g., biology, chemistry), women continue to be underrepresented in computer science and engineering. We propose that students' stereotypes about the culture of these fields-including the kind of people, the work involved, and the values of the field-steer girls away from choosing to enter them. Computer science and engineering are stereotyped in modern American culture as male-oriented fields that involve social isolation, an intense focus on machinery, and inborn brilliance. These stereotypes are compatible with qualities that are typically more valued in men than women in American culture. As a result, when computer science and engineering stereotypes are salient, girls report less interest in these fields than their male peers. However, altering these stereotypes-by broadening the representation of the people who do this work, the work itself, and the environments in which it occurs-significantly increases girls' sense of belonging and interest in the field. Academic stereotypes thus serve as gatekeepers, driving girls away from certain fields and constraining their learning opportunities and career aspirations.
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Stereotypes and a culture of social isolation often deter girls from STEM fields.
“Reinking and Martin (2018) review strategies to engage girls in STEM, noting that stereotypes and a culture of social isolation often deter girls from such fields (Cheryan et al., 2015;Steinke, 2017).”
From Fostering students’ motivation and self-efficacy in science, technology, engineering, and design through design thinking and making in project-based learning: a gender-perspective study in primary education (2025) · cites this paper as Cheryan et al., 2015
The Abstract says that computer science and engineering are stereotyped as socially isolating and that these stereotypes reduce girls’ interest. The claim extends that finding to STEM fields broadly, whereas the paper focuses on computer science and engineering and notes that women have made inroads into other fields such as biology and chemistry. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Cheryan, S., Master, A., & Meltzoff, A. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cheryan, Sapna
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2015-02-11
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 49-49
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4323745
- OpenAlex
- W2135547938
- Cited by
- 646
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 64 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 73 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 104 · 2019: 59 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 7
- FWCI
- 97.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0835854, 1420351)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Science Education and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Technology in Education
- Keywords
- gender stereotypes, computer science, engineering, underrepresentation of women, sense of belonging, career aspirations, gender gap in STEM
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